


Fluff and cathartic boomer hc’s for the group chat

by Queerphysicist



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24789046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queerphysicist/pseuds/Queerphysicist
Summary: The lives previously lead by Dr. Harold Coomer and Dr. Bubby are completely gone. Out of the video game and into the world of a computer. Being freed from the social expectations that once kept them apart, what will this entail for their relationship?
Relationships: Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 73





	Fluff and cathartic boomer hc’s for the group chat

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank tumblr user @//batz for bringing me out of a 2 year writing hiatus. Your head canons were so angsty that I needed to write this for my mental health lmao.   
> Also I have another Boomer fic in mind that I want to write (sadly more angsty sorry gc) so try and hold me accountable for that.

After the events of hlvrai & the Chuck E. Cheese pizza party, the ai’s end up staying on Gordon’s computer. Fucking around with files, surfin the web, pretty much anything that won’t break Gordon’s computer or his life (as per Gordon’s request). 

Bubby and Coomer get into the terminal and download python, vpython, as well as several computational extensions. I mean, if they can’t do physics in the real world, computational will have to do. Coding when you’re inside a computer is weird I imagine, but it’s also kind of like writing on a really big white board which neither of them mind. 

By the end of their first day outside of the game they’ve made a very beautiful simulation of a ball bouncing under a variety of customizable conditions (starting height, force of gravity, even some options for bouncing through air, water, etc). Bubby says that now without Black Mesa constantly breathing down his neck, they’ll have fluid dynamics completely figured out within a week. Coomer laughs at this, responds by saying it might take a little more then a week but he reassures the sentiment. 

It’s kind of terrifying being trapped in a computer also the whole life you lived was a video game, but both of them are just so done with everything. I mean, it’s an existential crisis but that’s a hell of a lot better than being tested on and cloned. So they just kinda say “fuck it, let’s just have fun”! 

Since they’re virtual beings they don’t really need sleep, but having a place of your own to rest is nice. At first they normally just hung around Gordon’s desktop, then terminal. Coomer is the first to suggest they find a more permanent living situation, being the one more used to having a home. 

Coomer ends up making a house in sims 4. Gordon helps him do the one cheat that starts him out with like a million sim dollars. He recreates what he remembers his old house being like, a modest 2 bedroom rancher. Though he does deck out the kitchen as best one could in sims. 

Bubby and Coomer are in this awkward zone in their relationship. After years of grief and pining and conforming to hetero/cis-normative standard, they’re finally free. But exploring their new surroundings has taken precedence over their relationship. Though both of them can feel that their relationship can’t stay on the back burner forever. 

When Coomer shows Bubby their house he’s a little confused at first. Bubby’s been pining for so long he’s usually afraid to jump to conclusions about their relationship, so he assumes that Coomer made the house for himself. He compliments the design and congratulates him for finding a place to stay. Coomer places his hand on Bubby’s shoulder, thanks him for the compliment, then inquires if Bubby wouldn’t like to live here too. Bubby looks at Coomer with an air of excitement and disbelief before regaining his composure, looking back at his home, and making an off hand comment on how it would be more productive for their work if they lived together. Coomer chuckles at this, it’s going to take both of them a while to relax the formalities they were so accustomed to, especially Bubby. 

That first evening they have a move-in party with the rest of the science team et all. They really didn’t have any possessions from their time in the game, but they do work with Gordon and Tommy to find the models of certain mementos and trinkets the sims catalogue wouldn’t have (Benery is there too, trying to figure out how to hook up a gaming console to a tv already in a computer simulation). They wave goodbye to their friends for the evening, politely declining the invitation to a 6 hour long twitch stream. The living room/ kitchen are finished, just leaving the 2 bedrooms semi furnished. 

“It’s been a very productive day hasn’t it Dr. Bubby?” Coomer says as they sit across from one another at the kitchen table. 

“It has! Though one of us is going to have to level up our cooking skills” level one sims Mac and cheese is about as delicious as it sounds. Although neither of them really needed to eat anymore, it was still nice to keep a routine. 

Dinner came and went smoothly, after which they sat on the couch and watched a documentary using Gordon’s Netflix account. At the beginning they were lounging on opposite ends of the couch, but throughout the run time they gradually inched closer together. Finally Dr. Coomer, the bolder of the two, made a move. He placed his hand on Bubby’s knee (*gasp* his knee) and gently leaned against the other man. Bubby at first stiffened to the familiar touch. Though there have been plenty of times where they’d sneak affection to one another in discrete forms, in the dark of movie night or hotel room during a conference, this affection was out in the open. Neither of them were used to that. 

Coomer noticed the change in his lab partner’s dimenor, “It’s ok you know, it’s just us here.”

Bubby shot back a look of nervousness, he then looked back at the documentary, trying to avoid eye contact. While his eyes were saying one story, his cheeks and hands were telling another. Bubbys eyes recounted countless stories of ache and grief, while his cheeks, now growing increasingly lilac in shade, merely said ‘thank you’. They sat together in that state for a few painfully long moments. Then Bubby then made his counter move. He lifted his arm, placed it as gently as possible around Coomers shoulders, and brought the other man in a bit closer. 

Coomer was relieved, and a sigh gave way to a chuckle as he said “Now that’s more like it! Excellent work Dr. Bubby! Though I do notice that your temperature is rising quite rapidly, perhaps you could try and refrain from setting our living room on fire for at least today?”

Bubby looked back at Coomer, the fear in his eyes melted away and replaced by a softer and warmer emotion. It would take them a while to get used to their new life, but both of them were more than ready.


End file.
